About a year and a half ago I started playing a game called Mafia Wars. It was a simple concept of a game that grew and became more complex. You could either play it alone or it you wanted to you could play with your friends. Playing with your friends ‘enhanced’ game play and allowed you to do certain things faster. But it wasn’t a requirement that you play with friends.

Shortly after I discovered Mafia Wars, I discovered Farmville. At the time it was a new game to facebook. I played with vigor. I loved the game. It was far different than Mafia Wars with its interface, but it was similar in concept in that you could play the game alone, but you got a better experience playing with friends.

Slowly over time both games morphed into something I grew to dislike, but that didn’t stop me from playing. Both games nearly required you to post absolutely everything you did to your facebook profile in order to accomplish anything. No longer was it a game you could play in your own time. It seemed that for ever other mouse click you were reward with a pop-up to “share with your friends”. Most of my friends who played the game would have a flood of posts that were nothing more than “Help Me!” or “Please Send Me…” and to be honest, I’ve finally reached the point that I’m annoyed with the games.

It is good that I’ve become annoyed with these games though. I’ve always wanted to be a published author. In order to be published, a writer must write. Unfortunately these games were taking up two, three, sometimes even four hours of my day and I would lament that I had no time to write. It took an almost literal slap in the face to realize the weight of that comment. I did have the time, I was just filling if with games instead of writing, or self-promotion.

So I will be visiting my facebook page in the near future and removing all posts that relate to any of the games I am no longer going to play. They were fun for the duration that I played them, but Zynga (creator of both games) does not need my help or support. This billion dollar behemoth will not miss me I’m sure. I am confident that my facebook friends that have played the games with me will miss me, but alas, choices must be made. I apologize to all my facebook friends who have counted on me over the past year and a half.

So to Zynga and all its games I say, “I will no longer contribute to the noise!” It’s freeing to say this and a blessing to realize that I will once again be spending more time producing and less time consuming.

If you are a writer, a reader, a podcaster, I encourage you to do the same. Look at your busy schedule, see what you’ve been putting off in lieu of facebook games (or any game for that matter) and decide how your time can be better spent. I won’t lie, it wasn’t an easy choice for me. I still find myself saying “I’ll just play for a little bit.” I know that’s not true. If I log on to one of those games, I’ll be there for a long time and not doing something I would rather be doing. 

Look for a lot more from me in the coming months. If not for games, I could have been a lot farther along than I am.